The invention relates to methods and reagents for treating neurodegeneration and other medical disorders.
Loss of neurons by a degenerative process is a major pathological feature of many human neurological disorders. Neuronal cell death can occur as a result of a variety of conditions including traumatic injury, ischemia, neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, sporadic and familial forms of Alzheimer's disease, Down's syndrome, Frontotemporal dementia, Niemann-Pick's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), stroke, or trauma), or as a normal part of tissue development and maintenance. Several inherited disorders produce late onset neuron loss, each of which is highly specific for particular neural cell types. A number of genes have been cloned that are associated with susceptibility to these various neurological disorders (e.g., Huntington's disease, ataxin, and ALS). Epileptic seizures and stroke also produce neurodegeneration in humans and rodents.
Other medical disorders are also caused by abnormal development, cell loss or loss of cell function. This includes psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorders, bipolar disorders, and depression.
There is a need for new treatments for these medical disorders.